Shell turned down offer to manage Nigeria refineries in 2007 because of corruption, others—Obasanjo 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that Shell turned his offer to them to mange Nigerian refineries on account of corruption which they did not want to get involved. Obasanjo said in an interview in Channel that Shell told him that the Nigerian refineries were poorly maintained, their capacity was small in size and that Shell makes much of its profit from upstream operation and also that there was a lot of corruption in the running of Nigeria refineries which they did not want to get involved. According to the former President “If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. But here we are, over $2 billion squandered, and the refineries still won’t work,” he lamented. 
He also said that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) turned down a $750 million offer from billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote to manage the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in 2007. Obasanjo said this during an exclusive interview with Channels Television, where he shared insights into the challenges surrounding Nigeria’s struggling refineries. The former president said that the NNPC, now operating as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), was aware of its limitations in managing the nation’s refineries but still rejected Dangote’s offer.
According to him “When I was president, I wanted to do something about the three refineries we have: Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna. Aliko got a team together after I asked Shell to come and run it for us. And Shell said they wouldn’t.  Aliko got a team together and they paid $750m to take part in PPP (Public–Private Partnership) in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to my successor and told him what transpired. He said NNPC said they wanted the refineries and they could run it. I now said but you know they cannot run it.” However, this effort was short-lived as Obasanjo’s successor reversed the decision and refunded Dangote’s investment. “I went to my successor and told him what transpired. He said NNPC claimed they wanted the refineries and could run them. I then said, ‘But you know they cannot run it” Obasanjo said. The former president expressed frustration over the mismanagement of the refineries, revealing that more than $2 billion had been spent on them since 2007 without yielding results.